Caught in centuries of confusion over floods

Feb 10, 2013

LETTERS

There have been many thought-provoking reports of victims of the recent floods and moving accounts of the plight of those affected twice in quick succession, such as Ellen Lutton's description of the situation of many of the residents of Laidley (''Desperate times in a flooded town'', The Sun-Herald, February 3).

Clearly, however, there is still much confusion in the community about the use of categories such as ''one in 100 years'' or ''one in 200 years'' to indicate how flood-prone an area might be. Such categorisation is important for many aspects of dam design and for basic decisions about whether a dam is to be for water storage, flood mitigation, or both.

However, those involved in dam construction, management and safety are not asserting that a flood will occur only once in 100 or 200 years. They are simply talking about probabilities. It should not be assumed that the floods will be at intervals of about 100 years.

Important decisions about where to set up house or business should not rely on the notion that there is regularity in the occurrence of floods in any particular area. That is not what the categories imply. If you intend to build or buy in a floodplain, you should make yourself fully aware of what mitigation measures are projected or have been completed since the area was last flooded.

Ken Knight Hornsby

Medal citizen

In 1984, Eddie Obeid was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to ethnic welfare. My dictionary says welfare is ''financial and other assistance given, usually by the government, to people in need''. Based on the evidence trickling out of the ICAC inquiry, it sounds as though whoever gives these awards was on the money years ago.

Geoff Goodfellow Moss Vale

Just prejudice

Jane Austen is turning in her grave (''Enduring legacies in the past'', February 3). While Austen's work reflected the change in marriage dynamics from class-based economic benefit to romantic benefit, marriage today is edging back to a pre-Austen set-up. ''Honey, I've shrunk the middle class'' may well be a Wall Street lament, but if ever there were a case for marriage as much an economic arrangement as anything else, it is the spectre of moving ever closer to the trailer park.

Now that men have fallen on their risk-rattling economic swords, the global financial crisis as game changer dictates that if you want a husband, get a degree, not plastic surgery.

Let's face it, romantic attraction hasn't stood up against the realities of modern life. So, the enduring obsession with Austen is really about hankering for a simpler past.

Terry Simpson Point Clare

Slightly off-key

Gina McColl may want to do a bit more research before making grand statements such as ''Under Aboriginal law, the instrument [the didgeridoo] can only be played by men'' (''Ancient instrument gives the breath of life'', February 3). There is no one ''Aboriginal law'' that covers the Aboriginal peoples of Australia. There are a wide variety of customs and traditions across Aboriginal communities.

Linda Barwick, in her book The Didgeridoo, From Arnhem Land to Internet, informs that, while traditionally women in the Northern Territory do not play in public ceremony, it was not strictly forbidden for them to play in informal settings. The area in which there are the strictest restrictions on women playing and touching the didgeridoo appears to be in the south-east of Australia, where in fact the didgeridoo has only recently been introduced.

She is correct that it might be controversial, those who seek to dominate a cultural perspective can find easy fodder in promoting universal ''taboos'', with an eye to claiming moral/cultural/spiritual superiority.

Scott Davis Hamilton

It's just not Hon.

I have always had a problem with professional politicians whenever they started bleating about the long periods away from their families (''Labor in crisis'', February 3). My answer is don't go into federal politics in the first place when you know it is based in Canberra and will involve long periods away from home.

Call me cynical, but I'm sure the sudden jumping off the ship by Nicola Roxon and Chris Evans just when an election is called has nothing at all to do with the fact they both know the Labor movement as we know it will be relegated to history at the next election. I am also sure they won't be the last Labor ''career'' MPs to abandon the fight before September.

If, like me, the thought of PM Abbott with Pyne, Abetz, Bernardi, Mirabella etc in power makes you want to rush to the toilet, remember that it is the Labor MPs who stay behind to pick up the pieces who will really be ''honourable members''.

Tony Carroll Wyoming

Can't C sense

Natural medicine should be part-and-parcel of medicine. For example, hospitals should give vitamin C complex to any patient on antibiotics. Why ignore a natural infection fighter?

When I needed antibiotics in hospital recently and was bedridden, staff thoughtfully gave me vitamin C from my husband. But it should be normal service, not an extra.